UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING STUDENT’S EXPECTATION VERSUS REALITY IN PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM WORKPLACE

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine the differences of expectation between undergraduate accounting students and public accounting practitioners about career in public accountant firm. The data were distributed into two groups. The first group is 130 samples undergraduate accounting students and the second group is 132 samples from public accounting practitioner. The data were processed using SPSS 21 (Statistical Package For Social Science) to evaluate the differences between the two groups (T-tests). The result of this research shows that there are significant differences in expectation between undergraduate accounting students and public accounting practitioners. The undergraduate accounting students expectation were not met with reality that there are differences in job duties and resposibilities, career development and personal concern with what public accounting practitioners expect. This differences will affect to the job dissatisfaction, increseased in turnover rate and lower employee performance level. Researcher hopes this research can give illustration for undergraduate accounting students real situation what actually happened in public accounting firms. With the result given in this research, undergraduate accounting students can prepare themselves and decide to begin their career as public accountant, so there are no dissapointment in the future.